


Meet Me in the Woods

by imacashew



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Implied Relationships, Post-The Raven King
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 17:52:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18393401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imacashew/pseuds/imacashew
Summary: “There’s always something spooky about the Pine Barrens at night.”The Gangsey takes a trip to the New Jersey Pine Barrens.  There's something wrong about those woods.





	Meet Me in the Woods

“There’s always something spooky about the Pine Barrens at night.”

That’s what the local woman almost ten years their senior said to Gansey as they stood in the little general store in the middle of town.

“Something about the Pines messes with you in the dark.  Like, it’s fine during the day, but once it gets dark...” she continued as Blue glared at the Republican presidential nominee stickers next to the cash register, as Adam browsed the local product shelves, as Ronan messed with the computer ordering system to order a sandwich.

The cashier had her eyes narrowed at Chainsaw, who was perched faithfully on Ronan’s shoulder, nibbling the strap of his tank top.

“I’m not entirely sure how to describe it.  It’s sometimes called the _Haunted Pines_ for a reason, though.  They say when you hear the wind blowing through the trees, it sounds like whispering.  Like spirits are trying to talk to you in the dead of night.”

She let out a sigh, as if she was holding something back that needed to be said.  As if she needed to determine if the boy in front of her was going to judge her being insane or childish for what she wanted to say next.

“When I was little, there were stories about if you didn’t believe in the Jersey Devil, he’d turn you into a monster like him when you’re asleep.  I remember laying in bed at night, my back itching like bat wings would sprout the longer I’d lay there,” she told him, a little quieter, wearily glancing at the other people in the tiny store.

The woman hugged herself with a shudder, rubbing her biceps as if she could feel the ghostly tingle of devil wings that threatened to break from under her skin.

“If that’s what you meant by letting you know if anything seemed out of the ordinary?  To be perfectly honest, I’ve lived here for nearly twenty years and it’s always been kind of _out of the ordinary_ , kid.”

With a gracious thank-you, Gansey jotted these notes into his journal (brand-new and ready to be filled with the next great adventure) and took it upon himself to gather his friends.

 

* * *

 

“So, why exactly are we in Bum Fuck, New Jersey?”  Ronan asked around a mouthful of sandwich. They were all sitting outside the general store at a shaded picnic table.  He swallowed and offered a soggy fry to Adam, who half-heartedly took it. Another unpleasant-looking fry was offered to Blue, who rejected it, and was ultimately given to Chainsaw.

“We are in “Bum Fuck, New Jersey”, as you eloquently put it,” explained Gansey as he pushed up his wireframes from where they slid down his nose, “Because we’re investigating the ley lines in the Pine Barrens.”

Ronan gave him a withered look, as if asking, _But why?_

Gansey continued, “With all the stories about the Jersey Devil, aren’t you interested?  The locals have talked about this creature for over two centuries. It’s fascinating, but I believe that it could be something related to the lines.”

Blue stole one of Ronan’s crispier fries, resting her chin in her palm, “What if it wasn’t just the leylines?  It could be a dream creature.” She rolled her eyes, “Wyvern-like with a goat head and bat wings? Sounds like something that came out of Ronan’s dreams.”

Ronan gave her a shove and wagged a fry in her face.  She smacked at it.

Adam raised an eyebrow, “That doesn’t really line up with what we know. Wouldn’t the stories and sightings have stopped when the supposed dreamer died?”  He examined the “Piney Power” sticker that Ronan bought when he paid for the sandwich and frowned at it.

“It’s a small town, these types of people nag on these shitty stories forever.  I thought you knew that, Parrish?” Ronan’s shark-like smile widened and took the sticker from him.  He hopped from the table to plaster it to The Pig.

Gansey was too lost in thought to notice.  He rubbed his lip with his thumb as his fingers tapped the cover of his journal.  Across the road, a gentle wind rode through the old town cemetery.

“We should go into the woods tonight.  Take a look around these _Haunted Pines_ , maybe?”  He gave them an all-American, winning smile.

They couldn’t say no to that smile.

 

* * *

 

When the sun had dropped below the treeline, Gansey suggested that they head out from their old motel room on the state highway.  

They journeyed into the woods with flashlights in hand and packs on their backs.  Boots and sneakers crunched over fallen leaves.

The Barrens spoke to them, not unlike Cabeswater.  It wasn’t Latin.

It didn’t sound much like English either.

The rustling leaves on the trees whispered to them as if Noah was still with them.  

As if Persephone was with them.

As if those loved ones who had left this world were still with them, speaking all at once, demanding to be heard.  To be remembered.

The ghosts of the dead in their ears.

A chill ran down Adam’s spine, raised hair as it went.

It was like Cabeswater, but it wasn’t.  Something _more_.

He glanced at Gansey, who was brushing his fingers on the bark of the pines as he peered up at the tree as if he considered asking for its secrets.  

It was possible that he felt it too.

There was something _more_ to these forests that only their group would know.  Something _more_ usually meant something _supernatural_.

Maybe the locals weren’t so crazy after all.

 

* * *

 

They ventured further into the wood, where the whispering became more pronounced and intertwined with the hoots of owls and the surrying of rodents.  

Blue had to wonder if their presence disturbed _something_ in these woods.  

She couldn’t figure out what it was yet, but a feeling nagged at the base of her skull.

The whispers in her ears echoed in the night.

When she felt a hand slip into hers, she realized she wasn’t the only one feeling uneasy with the Pines.  

She looked at Gansey in the corner of her eye, tension between his brows and shoulders as he looked up at the stars peeking through the mass of trees.

She squeezed his hand gently and he visibly relaxed.

A Mirror, a Magician, a Dreamer, and a King walk into the Haunted Pines...

It sounded like the start of a really bad joke.

 

* * *

 

Ronan knew there was something wrong with these woods.

He sort of felt like he was dreaming, but knew he was awake.

Sort of like when they were in Cabeswater, but not really.

It made him uncomfortable.

The trees spoke to him in an unknown that seemed similar to the language of his dreams.

He wanted to leave, go back to the shitty motel next to the Chinese restaurant that clearly used to be a diner and American-Italian place with greasy pizza and fries with fake cheese, but he couldn’t leave the others.

Not when he could sense that there was probably something out there.

Ronan matched his pace with Adam’s, draping his toned arm around Adam’s t-shirt covered shoulders.

Electric blue eyes regarded him with a hint of concern.

“This place is fucking weird,” was all he managed to say, slightly squeezing Adam closer to his side.

He got a knowing nod in return.

 

* * *

 

Gansey squinted at the starry sky with the vague feeling that he was missing something.

He felt Cabeswater in his chest, as it called erratically with his heartbeat.

 _Something_ was calling him here, as many things have done before.  He had to find _something_ because he was good at looking.

He held Blue’s hand with an iron grip and refused to let go.

Despite the growing anxiety that consumed his heart, he kept going.

“Excelsior,” he murmured to the trees.

 

* * *

 

A shadow flew over the moon, too quick to be an overhanging cloud.

“Did anyone see what that was?”  Gansey asked, disguising the shake in his voice.

Murmurs of ‘no’ bounced between them.  

Blue squeezed his hand while Ronan squeezed Adam.

Gansey gripped Blue’s hand tighter, gathered his intent, and he used his kingly voice to speak to the sky, to the stars, to the Pines, “ _Show yourself._ ”

A large thump in the distance.

A blood-curdling screech.

A rustle in the trees.

A crunch of wood and leaves.

Four beams of light focused on the distant sounds.

Steps came closer and closer until something came into the clearing.

Gansey gasped, gripping Blue’s hand even tighter than he had before. He pulled her behind him, closer to their other friends.

Ronan grabbed Gansey’s shoulder with his free hand, pulling him back.

It was a beast.

A beast with large, leathery bat wings. A goat head with large horns. Cloven hooves as feet and short, clawed arms. A long, forked tail. A Devil.

The most startling feature of the Devil wasn’t those monstrous features.

It was the soulful, human-like eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into TRC fic community and I feel like I rushed it a bit? The fic is basically a love letter to my hometown and the area that I grew up in. I've been surrounded by the lore of the Jersey Devil and Pines for 20 years, and I feel like I still don't know everything about it. I had ideas that I couldn't get rid of, but here we are.
> 
> Some Notes:  
> \- People who live in the Pine Barrens of NJ call themselves "Pineys."  
> \- There are various descriptions of the Jersey Devil, but I described the most common.  
> \- One story, the most common, of the Jersey Devil is that it was the 13th cursed child of a woman called Mother Leeds.  
> \- The Pine Barrens is called the "Haunted Pines" because of the "whispering" that occurs when wind blows through the Pine trees.
> 
> Come say hi on Tumblr @cashew-butter or @cashewwritesstuff!


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